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A video with most of what happened last week – some very happy children here . The images from school 148 and from the UK Ambassador’s residence are the ones missing.

The president of the Romanian Football Federation (RFF) and people in the RFF management spent a few hours with some of our children from Ferentari. Mircea Sandu , Dumitru Mihalache (director), Adrian Pigulea (grassroots manager), Emil Sandoi (coach of the Romanian National Team U21) were among those that watched their show and cheered for them. The president served the children, helped them with their food laughed with them and made fun of himself. Gave them gifts – really nice ones. We had some very happy children there.

This year we did some good things with the RFF. Some of the best known Romanian Footballers played with our children. Over 100 of them watched the Romanian National team playing on one of the nicest arenas in Eastern Europe against Netherlands and Belgium.

The guys at ARDOR (Romanian Debate Association) were great (thanks Monica and Bianca) as were the dance trainers from Trouble. Gianluca our Italian basketball coach as well as the Artesania Basketball club – Bogdan Lavric – amazingly kind people. UEFA’s guys William and Patrick as usually sent us equipment and whenever we needed they did their utmost to help . Alex Varzaru from Kamikaze is making a difference too.

The year was a tough one. We struggled as our funding was cut to a third compared with the previous year but the team stayed together. Salaries are crappy but people are great. Passionate, nice, great sense of humor and an amazing ability to put up with stress and situations that have hardly any resemblance to normality. They also somehow manage to put up with me. The volunteers were great and I wish I would know to show better how much we appreciated their help.

The end of the year was good. Three great shows in the schools we work (136, 2 and 148) one at the residence of the British Ambassador, one at UNICREDIT one at BCR and the one at the FRF gave us the opportunity to show off how great the children are. The guys at METRO as were those at BRENNTAG were also very kind and gave us gifts as they did in the last years. More than 170 children most of them from the ghetto received gifts due to the kindness of everybody mentioned above.

The children live in one of the worst areas of Bucharest. Most of them lived trough things that most people cannot even think about. Abject poverty, drugs, violence, parents in prison, no parents, begging, abuse, garbage, syringes and rats everywhere…

People used to tell us when we started that there is no hope that what we do will have any good results. Less than three years passed; nowadays they think differently.

I am tired of people telling me what we cannot do. Saying that nothing changes. That Romania is a crappy place. That things are bad and there is no chance for change.

Sure thing there is nobody perfect. But there is lots of good in people around. It takes patience and hard work to build enough trust for people to dare to show their goodness. It is well worth it. You should try it. Happy holidays !

European Union’s funding is plagued by a number of fundamental problems that affect in a profound and negative way the civil society in Eastern Europe. These problems seem to be treated superficially or ignored by the European Commission – the bureaucracy in charge of managing these funds (close to 100 billions Euros).

The European Funds transformed many NGOs in inefficient private companies that deliver social services.

Eastern European NGOs but particularly the less developed civil society organisations representing disadvantaged groups are the worst affected by these EU funds. The long-term effect on the Roma Watchdog NGOs as well as on the civil empowerment and development within Roma communities is catastrophic.

Flawed design

The way EU Funds are designed reflects a Western European concept that considers civil society as a legitimate and honest expression of citizens’ concerns. Such organisations are supported in Western Europe by governments and individuals that constitute the support base of those civil organisations and movements. The existence of a strong civil society is fundamentally linked in the collective mentality of the Western European countries with strong and functional democracies.

A functional/successful Western European civil society organization is one that manages to get a significant support (including financial) from its support base as well as from the government.

Accordingly, EU Funds were planned to include a minimum 20% contribution from the NGOs accessing funds and to impose strict rules about “ineligible” costs – things that cannot be purchased using EU money. This is indeed, on paper, a very good way to safeguard that NGOs will not try to access EU funding that is (much) over their administrative capacities.

As the decisional control of the design of EU Funds was/is in the hands of high level bureaucrats from the EU 15 (Western Europe) the rules for the EU Funding reflect poorly and in the case of Roma not at all the realities from the last 12 Member States (EU 12) than joined the EU since 2004. The majority of EU funds need to be accessed not by Western European NGOs but by Eastern, Central Europeans and South European NGOs; the design for EU funding is not at all appropriate for this to happen.

Differences that matter

The idea of the highest echelons of bureaucrats in the European Commission about what represents a functional civil society organization and how it functions and is financed doesn’t reflect the reality in the Eastern European context.

The civil society in Eastern Europe has been historically distrusted and considered a nuisance or the enemy of the state for the most part of the history of the region.

Most of the existing civil society in Eastern Europe is artificially created and indeed a result of foreign (North American and Western European) ideas and investments.

Due to the tensions of transition the democratic governments of the last 22 years in Eastern Europe have been many times aggressive against civil society and in general suspicious or defensive towards independent NGOs. Civil Society and especially watchdog and grassroots organisations of minorities and disadvantaged groups were for many years considered to represent suspicious foreign interests and are still perceived as having a hidden and sometimes destabilizing agenda against the “national interests”.

There are huge differences among the amount of money donated by Eastern and Western Europeans to NGOs. While Western European NGOs tend to be well financed, organized and with strong support at the grassroots the Eastern NGOs struggle with weak organizational structures and very limited national support. Funding at the EU level (Structural Funds excluded) is open to all NGOs from all Member States. The administrative capacity of Western European NGOs fits indeed the design for these funds but their financial and organizational prowess can be hardly comparable with that of Eastern European NGOs. This creates an unfair competition. As a result a disproportionate number of European Networks and European NGOs that access the majority of available funds for NGOs are based in Western Europe and lead by Western Europeans that are logically mainly concerned about the situation of civil society in their countries and almost at all about the situation of Roma. The examples of Roma relevant European NGOs such as European Anti-Poverty Platform, European Women Lobby and European Disability Forum all with abysmal records in dealing with Roma issues as well as including Roma in their managements or decision-making are the most strident.

Incentives to change this situation are minimal. European Commission bureaucrats would need to work and design different strategies for a good number of the EU12 countries and most probably for some of the vulnerable groups that live in these countries. This translates in a lot more effort on behalf of the bureaucrats and significant changes in the way EU Funds are distributed. Change is not at all popular at the level of European Commission as unsettles the existing comfort zones of the European bureaucracy.

Most of the Senior Managers responsible for the regulations of the EU Funds are from EU15; the majority of them have limited knowledge about the realities of civil society in the EU12 countries and very little interests to try to make the EU Funds more efficient in these countries.

Changes in the existing regulations need to be adopted by the European Council –therefore Member States need to approve such changes.

Help to develop a stronger civil society outside Western Europe means not only serious efforts of Senior managers in the EC to learn and understand the differences mentioned above but also a significant dent in the existing advantages Western European NGOs, local administrations, companies, trade-unions and governments have in accessing EU Funds compared with their Eastern counterparts. The main contributors to the EU 27 – the EU15 do not have any incentive to adopt (without being strongly pressured) rules that will cut down the amounts of money their citizens are able to get from the European Union.

Cutting corners and unfair competition

Unfortunately the unfair advantages Western European NGOs have had are rapidly addressed through “innovative solutions” most linked to corruption.

A widespread practice among Romanian NGOs is to submit proposals with maximum possible salaries. Those salaries are 30 to 50 times the average salaries and NGOs justify the requests for the maximum salaries as the only way to cover non-eligible costs. People that receive these salaries claim they will “donate” money back into the NGOs to cover the 20% own contribution requested by the EU funds.

In this way many NGOs that have no support base whatsoever but contracted good consultancies that wrote their projects in such a way to fit the EU requirements were able to win EU funded contracts that were much above their administrative capacities.

In many of these cases the own contribution part needed for EU Funds as well as the way these NGOs cover their ineligible costs is done illegally or at the border of legality. The Management Authorities (MAs) in charge of monitoring and controlling the way EU Funds are used are well aware of this practice and accept it as it happens also with the projects run by governmental institutions and local administrations. The MAs also know that regulations and the situation in Romania make it practically almost impossible for an NGO not to have “financial corrections” – meaning penalties- that on paper NGOs would need to cover from other sources than European Funds. Official representatives of the Management Authorities for the European Social Fund in Romania said publicly at a meeting in October 2012 that they are not aware of even a single project without such corrections (meaning financial penalties).

The more Structural Funds a NGO attracts the highest the probability to attract other EU and non-EU funds is. This tendency forced most of the existing NGOs to try to access Structural Funds and deploy the same unethical (and sometimes illegal) tactics as the ones mentioned above.

The case of Roma organisations

Roma NGOS are in a much worst situation than the rest of the “mainstream” civil society in their countries. Roma civil involvement and civil society was practically non-existent during communist times. Roma were and are still perceived mainly as “foreigners” in their own countries and have no tradition of supporting any type of organized political or civil movement.

The Roma civil societies in all Eastern Europe resulted mainly due to foreign investment and stimulus. The ideas of a unique Roma identity as well as of a united Roma civil society are artificial creations of American and Western European organisations concerned with the explosive situation of different Roma groups in Eastern Europe. The majority of Roma organisations were created without taking in account community support or consultations about what were the needs of the communities. There is no significant support base for any Roma organization in Eastern Europe and the probability that Roma NGOs will be able to attract significant funds able to support their institutional costs and compete fairly with the much more successful and skilled Western European NGOs for European Projects is unreasonable. It is also unreasonable to think that Roma NGOs will be able to compete easily with majority ‘s NGOs in their own countries and successfully attract and implement Structural Funds.

Most of the funding accessed by Roma organisations in the past were institutional funds; such funds are much more flexible than any of the European Funds available at this moment. The flexible funds almost disappeared, as most of the active donors in Eastern Europe are now, themselves, recipients of EU Funds and adapted their funding policies to the EU rules. As there was no well-planned or efficient transition from the flexible funds to the EU funds, Roma NGOs are facing at this moment serious problems in administrating EU funds and many are at the risk of financial insolvency.

Some of the best-paid directors of Roma NGOs received salaries from EU Funds that sometimes were over 100 times more than the average income of a Roma family in the communities they worked. Do to a series of corruption scandals exposed in the mainstream press these salaries are widely known and lead to a significant decrease in the trust Roma NGOs have within the Roma and non-Roma communities. The overall perception at the national level in Eastern Europe is that Roma NGOs steal or misuse the money Roma communities themselves should receive from the European Union.

Considering that it is almost impossible for Roma NGOs to attract funds that could cover the required 20 % own contribution or the ineligible costs of European Funds there is no other source for getting the money other than the EU Funds themselves. In this way the leaders of Roma NGOs can justify to themselves and their boards their inflated salaries. Such practices require a rather complicated financial procedure and many times Roma NGOs end up using unethical or illegal procedures to avoid bankruptcy.

This situation makes impossible for Roma watchdog NGO accessing Structural Funds to claim a higher moral ground. This higher moral ground is needed for an efficient watchdog organization; lack of it makes these organisations vulnerable to pressure or blackmail.

The lack of awareness about the incentives Eastern European organisations, local administrations and governments have towards bending the rules and cutting the corners resulted in European Funds being mostly an incentive for corruption rather than one for civil and financial involvement of citizens in the activities of NGOs.

Governments and political parties in Eastern Europe were able and are increasingly better at using EU Structural Funds as a tool to control and intimidate civil society and as a way to silence or curb anti-corruption efforts.

The interest of the public authorities in Eastern Europe is not to curb the possible corruption of NGOs in general as that will lead to less absorption of Structural Funds.

Their interest is to find ways to mask such corruption and prevent any significant development of strong independent Watchdog organisations that could expose the many existing problems.

Independent Watchdog NGOs are essential for curbing corruption and improvement of the design and effects of the existing financial tools at the EU and National level.

Independent national Roma watchdog organisations are a sine-qua-non condition for successful social inclusion policies and implementation. The existing funding at this moment not only it doesn’t support such organisations but is rather destroying them. In order to survive in Eastern Europe such organisations have very little chances besides bending rules and making unethical compromises that make them easy to control or blackmail by those in power.

This is a vicious circle that needs to be stopped. Breaking the vicious circle is not complicated- long term European institutional support for Roma watchdog organisations is the solution. This type of support should be conditioned by a very clear working program, involvement in the communities and the impossibility for such organisations to access any other funds besides those dedicated to watchdog NGOs.

Not taking measures will result in a slow but sure disappearance of essential civil society and an abrupt worsening of the situation of vulnerable groups and especially of Roma situation. Inaction will also badly damage the relatively good image the EU funds and EU institutions have at this moment in Eastern Europe.

I have received a number of complaints following some of my interventions about structural racism against Roma. I decided to address those complaints by preparing a number of questions for identifying structural racism affecting Roma.

The questions listed below, despite being politely phrased, are somehow considered inacceptable. Most people I know will not dare to raise them either because they will be seen as job-hunters, or because they are afraid to upset the most powerful. I argue that it is the duty of Roma civil society to ask these questions, as they may be the only way to change the existing unequal status quo.

The questions can be used to investigate other organisations, as well as your own.

The same questions can work for many other types of disadvantaged groups, including the most vulnerable of all groups (which is not the group of highly educated and mostly wealthy women lacking fair representation in the boards of directors of big companies around Europe, the European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship seems to believe, considering the efforts she puts into addressing that problem).

All of the following mentioned officials or institutions have been very vocal on the need for Roma to participate. It is worth noting the fact that there are hundreds of Roma with post-graduate degrees on issues very relevant to Roma in Europe.

The Questions

Why are there no Roma experts or Roma in the cabinet of the European Commissioner for Roma issues? What is the reason for the abysmal representation of Roma within the European Commission[1] (much worse than in any of the national governments the EC strongly criticizes for the lack of representation and participation of Roma)? What measures are being taken to address these issues?

Why are there no Roma experts or Roma in the cabinet of the President of the European Parliament or among the political advisors of different European parties represented in the Parliament? Why are there no Roma in any permanent or temporary positions of the European Parliament’s secretariat? What are the measures the Parliament plans to take to address these problems?

At least 12 European Parliament resolutions ask for better participation of Roma and encourage affirmative action.

Why are there no Roma experts or Roma in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the UN, despite a recommendation (27/2000 – point 48) that calls for such a presence?

Why has there never been Roma experts or Roma in the Office of the High Commissioner for National Minorities of the OSCE?

Why are there no Roma experts or Roma in the position of the Special Representative for Roma of the Council of Europe? Why are Roma so poorly represented within the Council of Europe itself?

Why are there no Roma experts or Roma in the Cabinet of the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe?

Why are there no Roma experts or Roma within the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), despite the fact that the FRA is very vocal at the highest level about the need for affirmative action and participation of Roma?

Why are there no Roma in any position within the headquarters of Amnesty International, Minority Rights Group, European Women’s Lobby, World Bank and practically all European Networks relevant to Roma issues? What measures are being taken to address these issues?

Why is affirmative action not a condition for the public money given to these intergovernmental organisations for projects on Roma social inclusion?

There are at least 500 times more Roma women in Europe that live in abject poverty than the total number of women that could possibly be needed to fill equally all the boards of companies and corporations in Europe.

The most important initiative of the EC Commissioner responsible for Roma, as mentioned above, is to have quotas for women in the executive and non-executive boards.

Why is there such a strident discrepancy between Roma women and women from the upper class of the European societies?

What is the ratio between the number of employees, and the salaries paid, when it comes to Roma and non-Roma in Roma-focused programmes and projects (including Roma units, Roma departments, Roma research teams, Roma grants departments, etc.)?

What strategy is in place (a strategy includes targets, timeframes and indicators) to change the situation, and what are the concrete results of such a strategy if it exists?

To avoid ambiguity, such strategies should have very explicit numbers on what is the targeted fair ratio and when that will be achieved.

If such a ratio is less than 30% in any of the two aspects (number of employees of Roma origins or the percentage of money used for Roma) then there is serious reason to be worried. If it is less than 10%, then it is structural racism.

What is the ratio between Roma and non-Roma speakers at the conferences on Roma these institutions organise?

If such a ratio is less than 10% – as was the case with the Extraordinary Meeting on Roma Social Inclusion organized by the European Commission – you either fire those in charge of organisation or publicly admit that you have a problem with structural racism.

Expertise is not something one achieves while in the job. Having your picture taken with Roma, reading speeches, and giving interviews about Roma do not count as experience. Field visits that last two hours do not make one an expert on any issue, aside from tourism, perhaps. Talking to Roma does not mean one is an expert on Roma issues either.

Academic experience means at least one year of focused studying on Roma issues at an institution recognized for its expertise, followed by a thesis on the subject of Roma. Hands-on experience means you spend most of your working time working with Roma on Roma issues for a significant period of time (at least half a year continuously).

[1] the European Commission has clear guidelines for fair representation and diversity

The Ministry for Justice and Order for Key Europeans and BS[2] for the Others,[3] led by the Queen, and

The Euro-Narnian Always[4]Right Agency, or ARA, led by the Prince Senior.

In this chapter I will examine the fabulous skills that make the Queen and the Prince Senior the ideal leaders for these institutions, which deal with Euro-Narnia’s Roma issues. As with any high-level Euro-Narnian job, those in the most important positions dealing with Roma peasants have some carefully selected attributes. They are similar, but at the same time different, from the attributes expected from CEOs of private companies.

Magnificent Experience

As explained in previous chapters, the Chosen Ones need to be Pure and as Remote from their subjects as possible in order to ensure minimal interference with Royal Revelations and Holy Judgments. Accordingly, hands-on work with Roma or in Roma communities, as well as academic experience on the subject, is to be avoided. Both the Queen and the Prince Senior have exceptional background in this regard: they have extensive experience in countries with some of the toughest laws against admitting Roma peasants on their territories. As a result, their countries of origins have very few Roma.

Their appointments and first speeches as our Royals coincided with a number of miracles: energy prices in Euro-Narnia dropped dramatically as Orwell started spinning at very high frequency in his grave, wars stopped as everybody watched the magnificent flocks of pigs flying over the World, and a number of Seniors and Royals woke up and made sense during their meetings with peasants.

Magnificent Working Plans (design and implementation)

Royals, including those in charge of Roma, are direct descendants from the Euro-Narnian Gods[5]. Public Working Plans outlining what they intend to do to in order to achieve Roma social inclusion and curb anti-Gypsyism not only make no sense as no Gods need to justify themselves in front of the living worms, but they are a dangerous deviance from the Euro-Narnian Rules and considered apostasy. The Royals (be their names forever blessed by Baroslan) have Secret and Complex Working Plans revealed by the Highest Beings on golden plates. These plans cannot be shown or shared with anybody.

These revealed Working Plans have extraordinary impact on the lives of peasants that is easy to measure: whatever good has happened in the lives of peasants is because of these Plans; whatever bad has happened is due to vermin peasants and intellectuals that do not trust the Royals and trigger the anger of the Gods of Euro-Narnia.

Magnificent Holy Self-Evaluation and Monitoring

The Queen and Prince Senior are subject to tough evaluations, as the Higher Spirits and Baroslan continuously supervise the Royals. Baroslan and the Gods are also exceptionally Pure and Remote when it comes to Roma issues. Therefore, nobody is better placed to evaluate the Royals.

Moreover, self-monitoring takes place at all times during sleeping (but not while dreaming – this time is reserved for consultations and work with Roma). Sleep-induced evaluation and monitoring can happen at any time during the day (in particular, during meetings) or at night. It is a dangerous and highly exhausting process reserved for the most brave and courageous of the Euro-Narnians and other High Level Royals.

Exceptional Skills to Work and Consult with Stakeholders

There is no better example of the Royal Brilliant Skills (or Royal BS) than how they consult and work with us, the Roma peasants. The process is called Royal Dreaming Telepathy (RDT) and is amazingly efficient as it takes place during the most intense living periods of the Royals: their dreams. During RDT they are fully dedicated to listen to us and work on our many problems. Periodical Revelations (PR) fall on them sometimes even when they are awake. Royals spend significant amounts of time lecturing on PR to peasants, dining, or taking photos with other famous Euro-Narnians and Royalty from other Empires. Therefore, spending further time on consultations with Roma or Roma experts would be highly inefficient – a huge waste of Mighty Royal Neurons. The Prince Senior was a disappointment at the beginning of his reign, but nowadays he is clearly catching up with the PR and has improved this fundamental skill.

Efficient and Proper Use of Available Budgets

As explained in the first chapter of the Euro-Narnian chronicles, a good part of available resources are spent on meetings and reports about us, the peasants, and salaries for those Euro-Narnian martyrs that organize, participate, write and read the mighty Reports. Some of these meetings even include us, the Roma. All meetings the Royals attend need to take place in 4, but mostly 5 stars hotels in order to avoid angering the Gods of Euro-Narnia. Such meetings are known for producing important prime quality hot air that is vital for the well being of Royals. Important Holy Reports are published only with the condition that they do not disturb the good mood and Revealed ideas Royals have about Roma peasants. Reports cost, on average, about the same as the yearly budget of a medium-sized peasant community. These reports are hugely popular – hundreds of thousands of Roma gather to cheer whenever one is released.

Exceptional Skills in Human Resources (HR) Management

A Beacon of Professionalism when it comes to HR management is the Prince Senior.

Recently, a vermin slave dared to sue the Royal for psychological harassment. Immediately (i.e. a year later, in peasant time) the Prince Senior appointed an Independent Investigator (i.e. close friend, in peasant language) to examine the complaint. The Investigator happened to be the chairperson of organization X, where the Price ruled before he was appointed to lead the ARA. The ARA paid organization X an insignificant 500 000 euro for writing one of the Holy Reports during the reign of the Prince there. The organisation was to receive another grant from the ARA during the time of the investigation.

Impartially, the Investigator decided that no harassment had occurred. The amazing refreshing odor that followed the decision was just the result of Euro-Narnian Gods rejoicing and enjoying their well-fermented Camembert cheese. Some unsophisticated and jealous non-Euro-Narnians thought it was the worst stench ever coming from the ARA.

Our Royals have built around them strong expert teams able to induce the most profound dreams ever – ensuring in this way an almost perfect consultation between Royals and the peasants. They work their magic even with us, the peasants, in long meetings that are also dedicated to the very important hot air production.

They also employ carefully chosen people to protect the Royals from any peasant opinions that do not fit with the Royal Revelations and ensure the required amount of criticism (i.e. lip service, in peasant language) appropriate for each Royal. The Queen in particular has some exceptionally gifted critics around her.

The Roma team of the Queen is led, as explained in previous chapters, by people as close to Purity as the Queen. The Prince Senior’s team previously included the only Euro-Narnian in the ARA with real experience on Roma. The expert was wisely and rightly sidetracked, as Expert views could dangerously influence the dreams the Prince had about us.

Inspirational Leaders

As explained in a previous chapter, the Queen and the Prince Senior are highly inspirational; through sheer talking they can make pigs fly and fish walk. The Queen displays many pictures of herself together with other Inspirational Leaders in her office, another clear proof of her qualities.

Both of the Royals are, as previously mentioned, exceptionally skilled at producing exquisite, rare and very expensive hot air. Such air production is cherished and carefully imitated by tens of Roma peasants aspiring to become Euro-Narnians and even Seniors one day.

Both of the Royals, as you might expect, do their work on Roma out of passion and dedication for us. They love us and they are concerned to fix and save us. They take many risks on our behalf; two are worth mentioning. The first is exhaustion due to long evaluation and monitoring sleeps, and the second is radiation due to the Royal Dream Telepathy process used for close consultations and work with us.

For these sacrifices they receive a meager compensation of only 20 to 100 times the average salary for peasants in all the Euro-Narnian Kingdoms. The Queen receives around 25 000 euro per month, while the gallant Prince Senior receives a smaller sum of 18 000 euro per month.

There are people in Euro-Narnia that know a lot about Roma and have worked with Roma. There is at least one such Royal, and a number (less than ten, as any double digit could dangerously affect the Mighty Equilibrium) of low-level Euro-Narnians. Some try cunningly and shamefully to influence the Mighty Work in directions that could be understood by us peasants, but hopefully the Pure Royals and Baroslan will stop such Shame to strike against the Kingdom.

For many years other governments and institutions (including Roma-focused ones) employed people based on the Purity rules. Nowadays things are slowly and dangerously changing but Euro-Narnia (blessed it be by Baroslan) remains strong in its position, and hopefully will lead the way to the best solution for us, the Roma.

A number of kingdoms in Euro-Narnian launched recently a brave new initiative that might be a source of inspiration everywhere else it is called – only Key Kings for the Kingdom for Roma or KKK for Roma.